A review by minimicropup
The Haunting of Velkwood by Gwendolyn Kiste

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

It’s not bad, it’s just more character-focused, sad, and romance-driven than I expected. I found it hard to stay interested sometimes. 
 
Energy: Perplexed. Despondent. Solemn. 

Scene: 🗺️ Unspecified location of the suburban development of Velkwood Street and surrounding area

Perspective (1): An adult who agrees to assist on a research grant by returning to their childhood neighbourhood that is inaccessible to most, eventually dragging their fellow survivors into the mix.  
⏱️ Timeline: Current day (2024is). November outside Velkwood vicinity, summer in Velkwood vicinity. 
 
🐺 Growls: Wasn’t feeling the romance despite being romance-driven. Romance felt forced, like Tabitha didn’t really care. Monotone/flat characters sometimes. Audio narrator (flat and not expressive). 
 
🐕 Howls: Didn’t feel invested in the characters. Annoying hinting/withholding about ‘what they did’ and who’s to blame. Circling writing style (same thing being said slightly different ways too many times). Precocious child speaking like fully grown. 
 
🐩 Tail Wags: The mystery of what happened on Velkwood St. When they first go back and the effects. Character backstories. 
 
🤓 Reader Role: The outsider, slightly detached and being thrown in the story, overhearing Tabitha’s thoughts. 
 
🗺️ World-Building: Eerie, immersive, sensory, cinematic
 
🔥 Fuel: Withholding, revelatory backstories, race against time. What happened to the neighborhood? Why can only the survivors go back? Are there any after-effects? Can they save those left behind? 
 
📖 Cred: Gritty surrealism
 
Mood Reading Match-Up:
Strawberries and cream body lotion. Sun-baked concrete. Sprinklers. Desaturated colours. Windex. Bacon. Millipedes. Barbecue. Ozone. 
  • Uneasy, sad, and haunting reflection
  • Emotional odyssey
  • Time travel
  • Bittersweet, tragic friendship
  • Circling main plot points
  • Coming of age forbidden love and star crossed lovers
  • Social commentary on suburbia, injustice of societal ‘norms’, complex parent-child and family bonds
  • Gradually escalating race against time survival
  • Hint of parallel universes and reality distortion
  • Surreal immersive atmosphere
  • Collective memory magical realism
  • Character-driven metamorphosis stories
  • The unseen menace
  • Inexplicable phenomena
 
Content Heads-Up: Loss of parent. Loss of sibling. Grief. Heart failure, cancer (brief mention). Homophobia (from caregivers, family, community). Child abuse, sexual abuse (off page; insinuated, by stepparent). Bullying (physical). Mental illness (breakdown). Parental rejection/resentment.
 
Rep: Ambiguously described characters. Cisgender. Lesbian. Bisexual. Heterosexual.
 
📚 Format: Everand Audio + Digital
 
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